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. . STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 19334
'
. HITT & LOWRY ST.. SERV - .' '
COLUMBIA, MO 65201 V
7 1 si Year No. 67 Cootl Morning! h's Friday. t) ermhr . IV7H 2 Sections -- x 20 Pages 1 5 Cents
Proposed state tax cuts viewed cautiously
By C. Claire Weber
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri
House and Senate leaders are
cautiously optimistic about the $ 150- milli- on
tax cut package Gov. - Joe
Teasdale proposed Thursday.
Senate Appropriations Committee
Chairman Donald Manford, D- Jacks- on
County, said although he had not yet
examined the governor's plan in detail,
it appeared to be " right on target"
Manford said the governor's
proposals would give Missouri citizens
a needed tax break and still provide the
state with enough income to run healthy
government programs.
Missouri House Speaker Kenneth
Rothman, D- Clayt- on, said he thought
Teasdale's program basically was
sound. But Rothman added that be
would not support any tax cut plan
which bit too deeply into the state
budget.
Rothman indicated he was concerned
whether the state could cut taxes by
$ 150 million and still maintain quality
programs.
" I might noagree with everything in
the governor's bill," Rothman said.
Teasdale's eight- poi- nt package calls
for $ 97 million in permanent state tax
cuts and a one- tim- e $ 53- milli- on cut for
next year.
The package, which would, save the
average Missouri family $ 94.50 a year,
would eliminate four specific taxes, cut
personal income taxes and limit future
state spending through a formula tied
to the state's economic growth.
Cuts in personal taxes and in the
taxes of small corporations would be
offset by increased taxes for large,
multi- stat- e corporations, and through
returning part of Missouri's $ 140- milli- on
surplus to taxpayers. ' " What I believe the people of
Missouri want is more money in their
pocket to use as they wish for things
they determine they need," Teasdale
said.
Proposals in the governor's package
include:
y Eliminating the state sales tax on
utility bills for residential users, for an
annual tax savings of $ 36 million. '
y Eliminating the state inheritance
tax, reducing taxes by $ 16 million.
- Reducing taxes for smaller cor-porations
in Missouri, but increasing
taxes for the largest 10 percent of
corporations in the state. The governor
said this would increase taxes for the
largest corporations by about $ 10
million.
Eliminating the state sales tax for
farm equipment, lowering state
revenue by $ 10 million.
v Eliminating the 2.5- ce- nt state
property tax, for a state revenue loss of
$ 4 million. The state property lax now is
used to fund the Blind Pension Fund.
The bill would finance the program
through the general revenue fund in-stead.
Local property taxes would not
be affected.
v Raising the personal income tax
exemption from its current $ 1,200 to
$ 1,800, for a tax savings of ap
proximately $ 53 million. The bill would
be financed by distributing $ 53 million
of the state surplus to taxpayers
through a one- time- on- ly elimination of
income tax withholding payments in
December 1979.
Putting a lid on state spending by
tying expenditures to growth in the
state's economy. The bill also would
create an emergeny fund the state
could use in case of economic recession.
- Eliminating the federal income
tax deduction on state income tax
returns submitted by corporations. The
( See TEASDALE, Page 12A) Insight
Team forms
to look into
Sedalia fire
Dispute between
officials subsides
By Diane Capuano
Missourian staff writer
A flare- u- p this week between the
Sedalia police chief and the Pettis
County prosecutor appears quelled.
The two met Wednesday . night with
other law enforcement officials to form
a special investigating team to look into
the Oct. 24 VIP n Health Studio fire that
killed three persons and injured four
others.
The team will include Police Chief
Phillip Schnabel, Prosecuting Attorney
Mark Kempton, Sheriff Don Stratton,
Police Detective Sgt Ron Hoskins, a
sheriffs deputy and two state highway
patrolmen.
In addition to . forming the in-vestigating
. team, Schnabel and
. Kempton agreed to appoint a team
spokesman to conduct all future news
conferences on the probe. -
Disharmony between the police chief
and county prosecutor began when
Kempton expressed criticism of Chief
Schnabel, saying in a press conference
Monday that the fire investigation was
becoming a media event
Schnabel countered with his own
press conference Tuesday, saying
Kempton's criticism had " definitely
hurt" the investigation. " This personal
attack on me has seriously com-promised
the investigation," he said.
He added later that Kempton's
" intemperate" remarks may damage
the cooperation the police had hoped to
receive from key individuals in the
case.
Meanwhile, other problems surround
the probe. In the more than six weeks
since an early- mornin- g fire swept
through the Sedalia massage parlor,
the city, has been shaken with stories of
underworld operations and official
misconduct
Seven people were in the building
when the fire broke out Some were able
to jump from windows escaping with
only minor injuries. Two Terry Love,
26, of Chillicothe, and L. H. Durley, 59,
( See FIRE, Page 12A)
Inside today
mBmMSM
Genuine cellars
Explore me sweet cellars and
beautiful arbors of Misssouri's
own working wineries. Today's
Weekend section brings to you
me scent of the casks, the taste in
the air and the directions for
getting to a nearby Missouri
winery. Page IB.
In town today
8: 39 a. m. to" 3: 36 p. m. Country
Christmas sale for Phi Upsflon
Omicron's scholarship fund,
University GwynnHalL
7: pjm. MFA Christmas tree
lighting, 1817 W. Broadway.
7: 3t tun. " The Homecoming,"
University Theater, Fine Arts .
Building.
8 pan. " Fiddler on the Roof,"
Stephens College Assembly HaD.
Mevlel3stJagieaPages2B I
Searchers find salesman's body
By Ron Ebest and Jim Snell
Missourian staff writers
The body of a slain Boone County
car salesman was found about 7: 15
p. m.- Thursd- ay lying in shoulder- hig- h
weeds just off a country road seven
miles north of Columbia.
The discovery came after area law
officers had spent seven hours looking
for the body of 28- year-- old Gregory
Bond of Ashland. They had decided to
wait until morning to continue the
search, but Sheriff Charlie Foster
found the body because he remem-bered
the area from hunting there " 25
or 30 years ago."
Bond, a salesman at Kelley Pontiac- Subar- u,
705 East Business Loop 70,
had been missing since Wednesday
morning when he left the car
dealership to give two teenagers a
demonstration ride in a blue 1979
Pontiac Trans Am.
The two juveniles in a car matching
that description were picked up by El
-- Reno, Okla., police in a cemetery.
Capt Jtay Watson, of the El Reno
-- police, old the - Qrfunuaa Missrarian ..
tThhuersdraye- atherr- oef the cawr atrsun" kW." ooAd2li0llauogveer-"- " '
double- barrele- d shotgun was found in
the car.,
? The juveniles reportedly told
Watson they had shot a man and left
his body beside a road near a strip pit
north of Columbia. Watson told the
Missourian late Thursday night that
one of the juveniles drew a map in-dicating
where the body could be
found.
But the map was unnecessary. At
the site, Foster said one of the
juveniles told El Reno police he
remembered a concrete slab. Foster
also remembered the slab, a little
more thai a mile north of Brown
Station Road down a one- lan- e mud
path.
- Lights from several officers' cars lit
the scene, and a trail of dried blood
and crushed weeds led from the
roadway to the body, m the darkness
it was difficult to see the concrete slab
across Rocky Fork Creek.' But it was
that slab that led Foster to the scene.
" I just can't hardly stop thinking
about something like, this," Foster
said at the site. He said a tip about the
body being near a concrete slab
helped him remember the area. He
had been on the same muddy road
earlier in the day checking under
JjiSiHIijjW
The body of Gregory Bond is removed from a back road 7 miles north of Columbia near Collwell Crossing
bridges where the body was thought to
be. - ' .
Foster said he had been told the
shooting had taken place near a
gravel road. He said he drove down
Wade Road, which leads off Brown
Station Road, until he found the mud
path. He turned on his spotlight and
swung onto the mud path. He said he
was looking for blood.
At the scene, Foster pointed to the
dried blood with a flashlight " I saw
that Wood right there. That's the
whole clue to it
" I wasn't surprised, and yet I was,
when I found the body."
City police were examining the
scene as Foster spoke. Officer Lester
Wright the evidence technician, drew
water from the creek to make a
plaster cast of a footprint found in the
mud. Maj. Bill Morgan, head of the
detective bureau, examined the body,
then walked to the creek, following the
path of trampled weeds and blood
stains'. Chief Dave Walsh led the
drivers of a hearse to the site so that
the body could be removed.
While officers were working at the
scene, the two juveniles in Oklahoma
were awaiting an extradition hearing.
Bob Perry, Boone County Circuit
Court services director, said a
juvenile officer and several law en-forcement
officers would go to El
Reno, a suburb of Oklahoma City,
Monday for the hearing.
Perry also said a third juvenile is
being sought in connection with the
case.
Some law enforcement authorities
had speculated that the two juveniles
might have been involved in the
Wednesday armed " robbery of
McGee's Service Station, Route B,
only a few miles from where the body
was found.
In that robbery, three young white
males armed with handguns took .
about $ 150 from the combination
service station and convenience store
and fled to a waiting car. The robbery
' took place about two hours after
Bond's disappearance.
But Watson said. no handguns were
found on the juveniles in El Reno.
They did not admit to having robbed
the store, and " gave no indication of a
third party," Watson said. Police
would not comment on the possible
connection. .
Watson said early reports indicating
the shooting had taken place inside the
Pontiac were untrue. If it had, Watson
said, there would have been blood and
shotgun pellets inside the car. There
were not
A salesman at Kelley Pontiac told
police Wednesday that two juveniles
had told Bond two weeks ago they
were interested in buying the blue
Trans Am, but would have to ask their
parents first Police did not say
whether they believed these were the
same two juveniles in custody in
Oklahoma.
Blacks moving to suburbs, study shows
WASHINGTON ( UPI) The
decades- lon- g trend of blacks moving
into large cities has ended, but city- dwelli- ng
whites still are leaving for the
suburbs and less populated areas,
according to a new Census Bureau
study released Thursday.
Since 1970, the study says, the
number of blacks living in the suburbs
has increased 34 percent while the
number of white suburban, residents
has advanced by10 percent -
The number of black city residents
has fallen by 275,000 since 1974, the
study shows, after increasing by 817,000
during the first four years of the
decade.
Meanwhile, the white population in
cities dropped by 5 percent between
1970 and 1974 and another 3 percent in
the 1974- 7- 7 period.
-- The only group that has bucked the
migration trend is well- educat- ed young
adults between 25 and 34, the study
' says. The number of college graduates
living in cities increased by 44 percent
between 1970 and 1977.
Overall, a government demographer
said the basic trend " marks at least a
temporary end to the pronounced
growth of the black population in cities
that had characterized the past several
decades," the report says.
- The study notes that during 1975- 7- 7,
blacks moving to suburbs " accounted.,
for 14 percent of the net increase in the
overall suburban population at-tributable
to migration," compared
with only 7 percent in the 1970- 7- 5 period.
" Black migration to suburbs appears
to be accelerating," the study says.
But at the same time, said Mark
Littman of the Census Bureau, " we
don't have any strong indication that
mere's any reverse migration of whites
back into the city."
Littman, who prepared the report,
was asked about predictions a few
years ago that higher gasoline costs
resulting from the steep boost in prices
by oil- produci- ng nations would prompt
people to move back to cities to be
closer to their work.
" I don't see it" he replied.
The study also contains several other
social and economic characteristics of
the city vs. suburbs lifestyle:
Rural areas experienced an 11
percent population growth during the
first seven years of the 1970s while
population in metropolitan areas in-creased
by only 4 percent.
The population of central cities
declined by 5 ' percent while the
suburban population increased by 12
percent
Not only were more families
moving out of than into cities, the --
average income of those departing was
higher than those moving into cities. Department has little control over costs
The cost of providing Columbia
consumers with electricity, like the cost
of everything from sugar to fuel oO, has
risen drastically in recent years. From
. 1976 to 1S77, the cost of producing, '
transmuting and distributing electrical
power increased from $ 7.6 million to $ 9
million, an 18 percent increase.
And the situation is not likely to
improve.
A Touche Ross accounting firm study
shows that the ' Water and Light.,,
. Department has direct control of only .
. 16 percent of its total costs, cjf $ 20
ihflUo& lbaseexpnmiaclttfecastsof I
administration .. and. of services
provided tor other ' ctty tepTlmfntn. .
. . . such an accounting.
' - - . -
Holme Hickman, chairman of the
Water and light Advisory Board, says
it would be " impossible" to reduce the
controllable costs enough so that the
" consumer can feel it in bis pocket
book.";' i- -
But a special expert subcommittee
of the Water and Light Advisory Board
is going to try. It will -- oramim the
situation to determine if the utility is
being charged toomnch for the services
providedbyotterritydeparbnents.
The work that this subcommittee has
before tf is the subject of this, the fourth
in a series of five articles about the
Columbia Water and Light Depart-ment
lathe final artidet& e Colombia
This series on the Columbia . Water
and Light Department was written by
Nan " Seelman, Jeff Jasper . and . Anne
- Detten of the Columbia fiBssoorian's
special reporting team oa basiaess.
SMMnpSBMBaMRMBlMSNMMBHSlBBSSSSSntSJMaaBSaBaBaBaBMMgl
Mfawwrian will discuss the utility's
future. - David West, professor of finance, and
' two other University faculty members
Richard Wallace, professor of
economics, and -- James Parker,
professor of accountancy are the
members of the advisory board sub- conmutt- ee.
Chaired by Bob Pugh, it has ,
' been assigned ' to answer' three
questions:
Does the city's pro- rat- a formula
actually develop costs that are
equitable to the utility? ,--
.
Would the utility be less costiy if
there was a different organizational
, . structure?
- Does the subcommittee" have any --
""
other . comments about in--- '
terrdatiOBsbips -- between '- t-he
city
government and the water and light
. department?
The subcommittee's findings will be
released at the next meeting of the
Water and light Advisory Board.
" When the Water and Light Advisory
Board ran into local criticism mat it
was supervising an operation that was
charging utility rates that were too
high, Holme Hickman tried to find out
m the numbers if that was true," West
says: --'"''-. :
, Tfirbman conducted a preliminary
study of nfrmiripnl power utilities in
Sikeston andSpringfield.
" My preHnuWy study showed that
( See COSTS, Page 1A)

. . STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 19334
'
. HITT & LOWRY ST.. SERV - .' '
COLUMBIA, MO 65201 V
7 1 si Year No. 67 Cootl Morning! h's Friday. t) ermhr . IV7H 2 Sections -- x 20 Pages 1 5 Cents
Proposed state tax cuts viewed cautiously
By C. Claire Weber
State capital bureau
JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri
House and Senate leaders are
cautiously optimistic about the $ 150- milli- on
tax cut package Gov. - Joe
Teasdale proposed Thursday.
Senate Appropriations Committee
Chairman Donald Manford, D- Jacks- on
County, said although he had not yet
examined the governor's plan in detail,
it appeared to be " right on target"
Manford said the governor's
proposals would give Missouri citizens
a needed tax break and still provide the
state with enough income to run healthy
government programs.
Missouri House Speaker Kenneth
Rothman, D- Clayt- on, said he thought
Teasdale's program basically was
sound. But Rothman added that be
would not support any tax cut plan
which bit too deeply into the state
budget.
Rothman indicated he was concerned
whether the state could cut taxes by
$ 150 million and still maintain quality
programs.
" I might noagree with everything in
the governor's bill," Rothman said.
Teasdale's eight- poi- nt package calls
for $ 97 million in permanent state tax
cuts and a one- tim- e $ 53- milli- on cut for
next year.
The package, which would, save the
average Missouri family $ 94.50 a year,
would eliminate four specific taxes, cut
personal income taxes and limit future
state spending through a formula tied
to the state's economic growth.
Cuts in personal taxes and in the
taxes of small corporations would be
offset by increased taxes for large,
multi- stat- e corporations, and through
returning part of Missouri's $ 140- milli- on
surplus to taxpayers. ' " What I believe the people of
Missouri want is more money in their
pocket to use as they wish for things
they determine they need," Teasdale
said.
Proposals in the governor's package
include:
y Eliminating the state sales tax on
utility bills for residential users, for an
annual tax savings of $ 36 million. '
y Eliminating the state inheritance
tax, reducing taxes by $ 16 million.
- Reducing taxes for smaller cor-porations
in Missouri, but increasing
taxes for the largest 10 percent of
corporations in the state. The governor
said this would increase taxes for the
largest corporations by about $ 10
million.
Eliminating the state sales tax for
farm equipment, lowering state
revenue by $ 10 million.
v Eliminating the 2.5- ce- nt state
property tax, for a state revenue loss of
$ 4 million. The state property lax now is
used to fund the Blind Pension Fund.
The bill would finance the program
through the general revenue fund in-stead.
Local property taxes would not
be affected.
v Raising the personal income tax
exemption from its current $ 1,200 to
$ 1,800, for a tax savings of ap
proximately $ 53 million. The bill would
be financed by distributing $ 53 million
of the state surplus to taxpayers
through a one- time- on- ly elimination of
income tax withholding payments in
December 1979.
Putting a lid on state spending by
tying expenditures to growth in the
state's economy. The bill also would
create an emergeny fund the state
could use in case of economic recession.
- Eliminating the federal income
tax deduction on state income tax
returns submitted by corporations. The
( See TEASDALE, Page 12A) Insight
Team forms
to look into
Sedalia fire
Dispute between
officials subsides
By Diane Capuano
Missourian staff writer
A flare- u- p this week between the
Sedalia police chief and the Pettis
County prosecutor appears quelled.
The two met Wednesday . night with
other law enforcement officials to form
a special investigating team to look into
the Oct. 24 VIP n Health Studio fire that
killed three persons and injured four
others.
The team will include Police Chief
Phillip Schnabel, Prosecuting Attorney
Mark Kempton, Sheriff Don Stratton,
Police Detective Sgt Ron Hoskins, a
sheriffs deputy and two state highway
patrolmen.
In addition to . forming the in-vestigating
. team, Schnabel and
. Kempton agreed to appoint a team
spokesman to conduct all future news
conferences on the probe. -
Disharmony between the police chief
and county prosecutor began when
Kempton expressed criticism of Chief
Schnabel, saying in a press conference
Monday that the fire investigation was
becoming a media event
Schnabel countered with his own
press conference Tuesday, saying
Kempton's criticism had " definitely
hurt" the investigation. " This personal
attack on me has seriously com-promised
the investigation," he said.
He added later that Kempton's
" intemperate" remarks may damage
the cooperation the police had hoped to
receive from key individuals in the
case.
Meanwhile, other problems surround
the probe. In the more than six weeks
since an early- mornin- g fire swept
through the Sedalia massage parlor,
the city, has been shaken with stories of
underworld operations and official
misconduct
Seven people were in the building
when the fire broke out Some were able
to jump from windows escaping with
only minor injuries. Two Terry Love,
26, of Chillicothe, and L. H. Durley, 59,
( See FIRE, Page 12A)
Inside today
mBmMSM
Genuine cellars
Explore me sweet cellars and
beautiful arbors of Misssouri's
own working wineries. Today's
Weekend section brings to you
me scent of the casks, the taste in
the air and the directions for
getting to a nearby Missouri
winery. Page IB.
In town today
8: 39 a. m. to" 3: 36 p. m. Country
Christmas sale for Phi Upsflon
Omicron's scholarship fund,
University GwynnHalL
7: pjm. MFA Christmas tree
lighting, 1817 W. Broadway.
7: 3t tun. " The Homecoming,"
University Theater, Fine Arts .
Building.
8 pan. " Fiddler on the Roof,"
Stephens College Assembly HaD.
Mevlel3stJagieaPages2B I
Searchers find salesman's body
By Ron Ebest and Jim Snell
Missourian staff writers
The body of a slain Boone County
car salesman was found about 7: 15
p. m.- Thursd- ay lying in shoulder- hig- h
weeds just off a country road seven
miles north of Columbia.
The discovery came after area law
officers had spent seven hours looking
for the body of 28- year-- old Gregory
Bond of Ashland. They had decided to
wait until morning to continue the
search, but Sheriff Charlie Foster
found the body because he remem-bered
the area from hunting there " 25
or 30 years ago."
Bond, a salesman at Kelley Pontiac- Subar- u,
705 East Business Loop 70,
had been missing since Wednesday
morning when he left the car
dealership to give two teenagers a
demonstration ride in a blue 1979
Pontiac Trans Am.
The two juveniles in a car matching
that description were picked up by El
-- Reno, Okla., police in a cemetery.
Capt Jtay Watson, of the El Reno
-- police, old the - Qrfunuaa Missrarian ..
tThhuersdraye- atherr- oef the cawr atrsun" kW." ooAd2li0llauogveer-"- " '
double- barrele- d shotgun was found in
the car.,
? The juveniles reportedly told
Watson they had shot a man and left
his body beside a road near a strip pit
north of Columbia. Watson told the
Missourian late Thursday night that
one of the juveniles drew a map in-dicating
where the body could be
found.
But the map was unnecessary. At
the site, Foster said one of the
juveniles told El Reno police he
remembered a concrete slab. Foster
also remembered the slab, a little
more thai a mile north of Brown
Station Road down a one- lan- e mud
path.
- Lights from several officers' cars lit
the scene, and a trail of dried blood
and crushed weeds led from the
roadway to the body, m the darkness
it was difficult to see the concrete slab
across Rocky Fork Creek.' But it was
that slab that led Foster to the scene.
" I just can't hardly stop thinking
about something like, this," Foster
said at the site. He said a tip about the
body being near a concrete slab
helped him remember the area. He
had been on the same muddy road
earlier in the day checking under
JjiSiHIijjW
The body of Gregory Bond is removed from a back road 7 miles north of Columbia near Collwell Crossing
bridges where the body was thought to
be. - ' .
Foster said he had been told the
shooting had taken place near a
gravel road. He said he drove down
Wade Road, which leads off Brown
Station Road, until he found the mud
path. He turned on his spotlight and
swung onto the mud path. He said he
was looking for blood.
At the scene, Foster pointed to the
dried blood with a flashlight " I saw
that Wood right there. That's the
whole clue to it
" I wasn't surprised, and yet I was,
when I found the body."
City police were examining the
scene as Foster spoke. Officer Lester
Wright the evidence technician, drew
water from the creek to make a
plaster cast of a footprint found in the
mud. Maj. Bill Morgan, head of the
detective bureau, examined the body,
then walked to the creek, following the
path of trampled weeds and blood
stains'. Chief Dave Walsh led the
drivers of a hearse to the site so that
the body could be removed.
While officers were working at the
scene, the two juveniles in Oklahoma
were awaiting an extradition hearing.
Bob Perry, Boone County Circuit
Court services director, said a
juvenile officer and several law en-forcement
officers would go to El
Reno, a suburb of Oklahoma City,
Monday for the hearing.
Perry also said a third juvenile is
being sought in connection with the
case.
Some law enforcement authorities
had speculated that the two juveniles
might have been involved in the
Wednesday armed " robbery of
McGee's Service Station, Route B,
only a few miles from where the body
was found.
In that robbery, three young white
males armed with handguns took .
about $ 150 from the combination
service station and convenience store
and fled to a waiting car. The robbery
' took place about two hours after
Bond's disappearance.
But Watson said. no handguns were
found on the juveniles in El Reno.
They did not admit to having robbed
the store, and " gave no indication of a
third party," Watson said. Police
would not comment on the possible
connection. .
Watson said early reports indicating
the shooting had taken place inside the
Pontiac were untrue. If it had, Watson
said, there would have been blood and
shotgun pellets inside the car. There
were not
A salesman at Kelley Pontiac told
police Wednesday that two juveniles
had told Bond two weeks ago they
were interested in buying the blue
Trans Am, but would have to ask their
parents first Police did not say
whether they believed these were the
same two juveniles in custody in
Oklahoma.
Blacks moving to suburbs, study shows
WASHINGTON ( UPI) The
decades- lon- g trend of blacks moving
into large cities has ended, but city- dwelli- ng
whites still are leaving for the
suburbs and less populated areas,
according to a new Census Bureau
study released Thursday.
Since 1970, the study says, the
number of blacks living in the suburbs
has increased 34 percent while the
number of white suburban, residents
has advanced by10 percent -
The number of black city residents
has fallen by 275,000 since 1974, the
study shows, after increasing by 817,000
during the first four years of the
decade.
Meanwhile, the white population in
cities dropped by 5 percent between
1970 and 1974 and another 3 percent in
the 1974- 7- 7 period.
-- The only group that has bucked the
migration trend is well- educat- ed young
adults between 25 and 34, the study
' says. The number of college graduates
living in cities increased by 44 percent
between 1970 and 1977.
Overall, a government demographer
said the basic trend " marks at least a
temporary end to the pronounced
growth of the black population in cities
that had characterized the past several
decades," the report says.
- The study notes that during 1975- 7- 7,
blacks moving to suburbs " accounted.,
for 14 percent of the net increase in the
overall suburban population at-tributable
to migration," compared
with only 7 percent in the 1970- 7- 5 period.
" Black migration to suburbs appears
to be accelerating," the study says.
But at the same time, said Mark
Littman of the Census Bureau, " we
don't have any strong indication that
mere's any reverse migration of whites
back into the city."
Littman, who prepared the report,
was asked about predictions a few
years ago that higher gasoline costs
resulting from the steep boost in prices
by oil- produci- ng nations would prompt
people to move back to cities to be
closer to their work.
" I don't see it" he replied.
The study also contains several other
social and economic characteristics of
the city vs. suburbs lifestyle:
Rural areas experienced an 11
percent population growth during the
first seven years of the 1970s while
population in metropolitan areas in-creased
by only 4 percent.
The population of central cities
declined by 5 ' percent while the
suburban population increased by 12
percent
Not only were more families
moving out of than into cities, the --
average income of those departing was
higher than those moving into cities. Department has little control over costs
The cost of providing Columbia
consumers with electricity, like the cost
of everything from sugar to fuel oO, has
risen drastically in recent years. From
. 1976 to 1S77, the cost of producing, '
transmuting and distributing electrical
power increased from $ 7.6 million to $ 9
million, an 18 percent increase.
And the situation is not likely to
improve.
A Touche Ross accounting firm study
shows that the ' Water and Light.,,
. Department has direct control of only .
. 16 percent of its total costs, cjf $ 20
ihflUo& lbaseexpnmiaclttfecastsof I
administration .. and. of services
provided tor other ' ctty tepTlmfntn. .
. . . such an accounting.
' - - . -
Holme Hickman, chairman of the
Water and light Advisory Board, says
it would be " impossible" to reduce the
controllable costs enough so that the
" consumer can feel it in bis pocket
book.";' i- -
But a special expert subcommittee
of the Water and Light Advisory Board
is going to try. It will -- oramim the
situation to determine if the utility is
being charged toomnch for the services
providedbyotterritydeparbnents.
The work that this subcommittee has
before tf is the subject of this, the fourth
in a series of five articles about the
Columbia Water and Light Depart-ment
lathe final artidet& e Colombia
This series on the Columbia . Water
and Light Department was written by
Nan " Seelman, Jeff Jasper . and . Anne
- Detten of the Columbia fiBssoorian's
special reporting team oa basiaess.
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Mfawwrian will discuss the utility's
future. - David West, professor of finance, and
' two other University faculty members
Richard Wallace, professor of
economics, and -- James Parker,
professor of accountancy are the
members of the advisory board sub- conmutt- ee.
Chaired by Bob Pugh, it has ,
' been assigned ' to answer' three
questions:
Does the city's pro- rat- a formula
actually develop costs that are
equitable to the utility? ,--
.
Would the utility be less costiy if
there was a different organizational
, . structure?
- Does the subcommittee" have any --
""
other . comments about in--- '
terrdatiOBsbips -- between '- t-he
city
government and the water and light
. department?
The subcommittee's findings will be
released at the next meeting of the
Water and light Advisory Board.
" When the Water and Light Advisory
Board ran into local criticism mat it
was supervising an operation that was
charging utility rates that were too
high, Holme Hickman tried to find out
m the numbers if that was true," West
says: --'"''-. :
, Tfirbman conducted a preliminary
study of nfrmiripnl power utilities in
Sikeston andSpringfield.
" My preHnuWy study showed that
( See COSTS, Page 1A)